25+ Tools for Startups: Software Platforms and Apps You Should Be Using

Startups in any field need great tools to streamline their operations. With this list of over 25 apps across six categories, you can start finding those tools. And no, we’re not saying you need to use every tool here, but one from each category would be a great start. That’s because even the tiniest organizations need to communicate, market themselves, manage projects, organize calendars, and account for revenue and expenses. Get started with all that below.

• Best communication tools for startups
• Best marketing tools for startups
• Best project management tools for startups
• Best calendar and scheduling tools for startups
• Best accounting and payment tools for startups
• Best miscellaneous tools for startups

Best communication tools for startups

• Fellow
• Slack
• Zoom
• Chanty

1Fellow

Fellow can make the most of all your meetings – which are among your team’s most important communication tools. You and your team can use Fellow to work together on meeting agendas, take meeting notes, and follow through on meeting action items. Fellow can also gather peer feedback across your team so everyone can share thoughts and concerns with one another. It works just as well for virtual teams as for remote teams. No matter who (and where) you are, Fellow can unite your whole team.

Key features:

• Collaborative meeting agendas and meeting notes
• Real-time meeting action items for follow-through afterward
• Peer feedback for sharing praise and constructive criticism

Price: Fellow is free for teams of at most 10 people. After that, its paid plans start at $6 per user per month.

2Slack

Slack has become all but the bread and butter of the modern workplace. The platform is renowned for its supremely organized and user-friendly team instant messaging platform. You can use Slack to send group messages, one-on-one messages, or team-wide chats devoted to certain recurring topics. Slack’s mobile app is an especially popular way to keep in touch with your team on the go. 

Key features:

• Group messages or one-on-one messages
• Topic-specific channels for messaging your entire team
• Mobile app for on-the-go communication

Price: Slack offers a free plan, and its paid plans start at $6.67 per active user per month.

3Zoom

Zoom has gobbled up about 73 percent of the video conferencing market, which shouldn’t surprise you if you haven’t been living under a rock. Zoom has become the de facto video call platform for most teams given its versatility. You can use it to hold one-on-one meetings or giant webinars for the whole team. It’s also great for screen sharing. Plus, since it’s so ubiquitous, your team likely won’t face a learning curve with it.

Key features:

• As usable for one-on-ones as huge webinars
• Screen-sharing for clearer team conversations
• Minimal learning curve given the platform’s ubiquity

Price: Zoom offers a free tier, though meetings of more than three people can’t run longer than 40 minutes on this tier. You’ll pay at least $149.99 per year per license to use Zoom for three or more people without interruption.

4Chanty

Chanty combines Slack’s familiar instant-messaging interface with additional, more novel features. The app comes with a built-in task management platform. You can also use Chanty’s Teambook tool to store and organize all your messages, links, tasks, and files. This way, you can be even clearer in your communications. Chanty also includes voice messaging and call tools to give you additional communication options.

Key features:

• Task management tool included with the platform
• Store and organize files, tasks, links, and messages
• Call and voice message your team

Price: Chanty offers a free introductory plan. Paid plans, which include more features, cost $3 per user per month.

Best marketing tools for startups

• Google Analytics 
• Mailchimp
• Podium
• Hootsuite
• Social Status
• Press Kite
• Salesmate

1 Google Analytics 

Google Analytics syncs with your company’s website and, if you have one, mobile app. It can analyze the data from each so you can understand how well your content, marketing initiatives, and products are performing. The platform offers one-of-a-kind insights powered by machine learning to help you understand your data. 

Key features:

• Links with your company’s website and mobile app
• Analyzes the performance of all your content, marketing, and products
• Uses machine learning to provide unique insights

Price: Google Analytics offers a free version. The company does not list the prices of its paid versions, though some sources say it’s as expensive as $12,500 per month.

2 Mailchimp

Mailchimp is the backbone of many organizations’ email marketing strategies. The widely used platform bakes expert advice into all its features, which include marketing emails and automation. You can also use Mailchimp’s predictive segmentation to separate your customers or clients into groups for more effective outreach. Drag-and-drop design tools can help you create the most visually appealing emails you can imagine.

Key features:

• Marketing emails and automation
• Predictive segmentation
• Drag-and-drop email design tools

Price: Mailchimp offers a free introductory tier. Its paid plans start at $11 per month.

3 Podium

Podium is a text message marketing platform that can take your organization’s marketing strategy well beyond your customers’ phones. You can use Podium to easily ask for customer reviews, which will immediately appear among your Google reviews. Podium can also implement a customer service live chat widget on your website. This way, you can market your  business as offering great customer service while easily reaching all your potential customers.

Key features:

• Text message marketing
• Easy to ask for and receive customer reviews
• Live chat website widget

Price: Podium starts at $289 per month.

4 Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a social media marketing platform that combines all your channels into one dashboard. You can use it to auto-schedule posts on all your channels and track what people are saying about your organization on social media. Hootsuite can also tell you why your posts that reach the most people are doing well so that you can do it again.

Key features:

• Single dashboard for all social media feeds
• Auto-schedule posts on all social media channels
• Figure out why high-performing posts are doing well

Price: Hootsuite offers a limited free plan, and paid plans start at $49 per month.

5 Social Status

Social Status is a social media analytics and reporting tool that covers all the main social media channels, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter. As a dedicated social analytics tool, it provides the most in-depth metrics and reporting to show what content works best and why

Key features:

• Combine all your social media profiles in one consolidated measurement dashboard
• Benchmark against competitors and industry averages
• Track and report on your paid social campaigns and influencer campaigns

Price: Social Status offers a free forever plan, and paid plans start at $29 per month.

5 Press Kite

As you can probably guess from its name, Press Kite is a tool you can use to easily create a press kit for your organization. Your kit can include your organization’s biography, logos, products, videos, recent press coverage, and contact information. This way, anyone covering your organization has everything they need right at their fingertips. The platform is easily navigable too thanks to section tabs at the top and a fully scrollable layout.

Key features:

• Build press kit for your organization
• Include organization biography, contact information, logos, and other key information
• Scroll or click section tabs at top to navigate

Price: Press Kite plans start at $9 per month.

6Salesmate

Salesmate is a tool for managing your customer relationships and automating interactions. You can use it to track your sales team’s conversations, contacts, and deals in real-time. You can also cut out any recurring, tedious sales tasks and see actionable insights into your sales team’s performance. You’ll also get built-in calling and texting for the whole sales team to use.

Key features:

• Real-time tracking of sales team’s deals, contacts, and conversations
• Remove recurring, tedious sales tasks from workflows
• Obtain actionable insights into team performance

Price: Salesmate plans start at $12 per user per month.

Best project management tools for startups

• Todoist
• TeuxDeux
• Asana
• Trello
• Monday

1Todoist

Todoist is a task management tool known for automatically bringing your most important tasks to the top of your list. It comes with hundreds of templates you can use to build yourself the best possible task list. Todoist can also recommend productivity approaches based on your strengths and habits. You can use its filters, labels, priorities, and other features to customize your task list.

Key features:

• Automatically identify your most important tasks
• Build task lists from templates to best suit your needs
• Customize your task list with priorities, filters, labels, and other tools

Price: Todoist offers a free plan, and its paid plans start at $4 per month.

2TeuxDeux

TeuxDeux’s user-friendly layout resembles a traditional paper notepad combined with a calendar. You can set tasks with deadlines on a specific day or just “someday.” Any tasks you don’t complete roll over directly into the next day. And when “someday” finally arrives, you can quickly move tasks out of that list onto a specific day in your calendar.

Key features:

• Calendar layout resembles paper notepad
• Tasks set to specific days roll over to next day if not completed
• “Someday” task list for any indefinite tasks

Price: TeuxDeux’s mobile app is an entirely free tool for task management. Its desktop and web browser version starts at $3 per month.

3Asana

Asana is a project management tool that you and your team members can use to assign and view tasks, communicate about tasks, and build schedules. You can create tasks within projects and subsections and assign them to team members while setting deadlines. Team members can share updates via comments on each task or directly through private messages. List, board, and calendar views for tasks let your team members get organized however they please.

Key features:

• Assign and view tasks and deadlines within projects or subsections
• Share comments on tasks or send private messages
• Choose among board, calendar, or list view of tasks

Price: Asana offers a free tier, and its paid plans start at $10.99 per user per month.

4Trello

Trello’s project management software includes list, board, and calendar views alongside timelines and productivity metrics. You can also use Trello to customize workflows and create task cards that contain checklists, conversations, attachments, and due dates. You can also access an activity log to view your team’s recent work and updates.

Key features:

• Timelines and productivity metrics
• Custom workflows and task cards fully detailing each task
• Activity log detailing team’s recent updates and work

Price: Trello offers a free plan, and its paid plans start at $5 per user per month.

5Monday

Monday is a tool for building custom workflows and viewing summaries of your active projects. You can view your summaries as boards, Gantt charts, calendars, and timelines. You’ll see several charts analyzing your project’s status too. Monday also includes a built-in word processor so you can collaborate with your team in real-time.

Key features:

• Build custom workflows and view project summaries in several views
• Use charts for clearer overviews of project statuses
• Native word processor for real-time, in-app team collaboration
• Gantt chart to assigning multiple team members for specific tasks

Price: Monday offers a free plan, and its paid plans start at $8 per user per month.

Best calendar and scheduling tools for startups

• Google Calendar
• Calendly
• Time Doctor

1Google Calendar

Google Calendar is included with your Gmail or Google Workspace account. It’s an easy way to view all your work meetings alongside your team members’ commitments and find shared free time for future meetings. When you set yourself as out of office, Google will automatically decline new meeting invitations on your behalf. You can also use Google Calendar as a task list so your to-dos appear next to your appointments.

Key features:

• View calendar of all your meetings alongside team members’ meetings
• Auto-decline meeting invites when you’re out of office
• Use as task list to align tasks and deadlines with meetings

Price: Google Calendar is free with a personal Gmail account. If your organization plans to use Google Workspace, you’ll pay at least $6 per user per month.

2Calendly

Calendly is a scheduling tool that can streamline your meeting booking process. To start, you’ll tell Calendly your schedule preferences. You’ll then get a Calendly link you can send to people or embed on a website. From this link, people can schedule meetings with you – only at times you’re available. You’ll then see the meeting on your own calendar. Before the meeting, Calendly will send reminders, and afterward, it will send thank-you notes.

Key features:

• Creates link or embeddable form for people to schedule meetings with you
• Adds meetings to your calendar, only during times when you’re free
• Sends meeting reminders beforehand and thank-you notes afterward

Price: Calendly offers a free tier, and its paid plans start at $8 per user per month.

3Time Doctor

Time Doctor is a great tool for scheduling remote team members and ensuring they start their workdays on time. You can also use it to auto-track your team members’ time and figure out where they’re excelling and falling behind. That last part is thanks to Time Doctor’s productivity analytics that identify unproductive websites and apps. Time Doctor can also group tasks within larger, broader responsibilities so you can better analyze everyone’s productivity.

Key features:

• Schedule remote team members and ensure timely starts to workdays
• Identify unproductive app and website usage
• Group tasks within larger responsibilities for further productivity analysis

Price: Time Doctor plans start at $7 per user per month.

Best accounting and payment tools for startups

• Paymo
• QuickBooks
• Freshbooks

1Paymo

Paymo is both a time management tool and an accounting software platform. It fits under the time management umbrella since it can track your team’s time. It fits under the accounting umbrella since it can convert your time tracked per project into client invoices. You can also use Paymo to create estimates, track expenses, and add payment tools directly to your invoices.

Key features:

• Track team members’ time spent per project
• Convert time tracked into invoices for any clients you bill by the hour
• Build estimates, track expenses, and obtain payment directly from invoices

Price: Paymo offers a free plan, and its paid plans start at $4.95 per user per month.

2QuickBooks

QuickBooks is perhaps the most popular accounting software. You can use it to set up recurring invoices and reminders, and it can automatically generate all your financial reports. Expense tracking tools, along with bank and credit card sync features, are also available. For an extra monthly fee, QuickBooks can connect you with full-service professional bookkeepers as well. 

Key features:

• Recurring invoices and reminders
• Auto-generated financial reports
• Professional bookkeepers (costs extra)

Price: QuickBooks plans start from $7.50 per month. Professional bookkeeping services start at $200 per month.

3Freshbooks

Freshbooks is another well-liked accounting software platform, one especially well-regarded for its invoicing features. Freshbooks’ invoices are especially customizable, and they allow customers to make credit card payments the moment you bill them. You can automate late payment notifications as well. Alongside these helpful invoicing features come tools that cover expenses and reporting, as well as time tracking and project management. 

Key features:

• Highly customizable invoices
• Accept credit card payments through invoices 
• Automatic late payment notifications

Price: Freshbooks plans start at $4.50 per month.

Best miscellaneous tools for startups

• Product Hunt
• Pocket
• Shift
• Noisli
• Colorcinch

1Product Hunt

During your startup phase, you might need all kinds of tools to grow your business – maybe some tools you never would’ve imagined. Product Hunt can help you find those products. When you visit its website, you’ll see quick links to new apps in fields such as graphic design, writing, and website-building. You’ll also find an online community where you can make new connections and ask questions. There’s also a Founder Club you can join to more easily get certain tools your organization might need.

Key features:

• Repository of new and useful apps
• Community for building connections and asking questions
• Founder Club membership for easier access to certain tools for startups

Price: Product Hunt is free to use other than the Founder Club, which costs $60 per month to join.

2Pocket

Pocket takes your web browser’s built-in “reading list” tool to the next level. With it, you can do more than save interesting articles that could help you get your startup off the ground. You can also get article recommendations curated for you based on your interests. This way, the more you read, the better Pocket can serve you in expanding your startup. Pocket can also convert articles to listenable formats so you can more easily pay attention.

Key features:

• Save interesting articles to read later
• Receive curated recommendations that improve the more you use the app
• Listen to articles instead of reading them

Price: Pocket offers a free plan, with paid plans starting at $3.75 per month.

3Shift

As you start using increasingly more tools for startups, your apps can get increasingly disorganized. Shift’s consolidated, searchable interface for all your apps can help solve this problem. It does the same for your email addresses so you can view all your communications in one place. You can also set customized notifications so you don’t miss a beat when there’s something you should know via email or in your apps.

Key features:

• Store all your apps in one searchable interface
• Combine all your email addresses into one inbox
• Create custom notifications

Price: Shift offers a free plan, and paid plans start at $99.99 per year.

4 Noisli

When you run Noisli, the app will produce sounds that can cut out background distractions to improve your focus. You can mix and match Noisli sounds for your ideal productivity blend, and you can save your favorite sounds. Or if you’d rather Noisli do the work for you, curated playlists are available.

Key features:

• Play sounds that can drown out background distractions
• Mix and match – and save – sounds for your ideal focus
• Listen to curated playlists to more easily drown out distractions

Price: Noisli offers a free tier, and its paid plans start at $10 per month.

5 Colorcinch

Make your marketing visuals exciting and engaging with this easy-to-use design tool. Colorcinch lets you do basic photo edits (crop, resize, change the background, add details) and create branded images. You can play around
with the hand-picked creative assets to customize your photos to turn any photo into digital art, painting, sketch, cartoon, and more.

Key features:

• Apply special artistic effects (powered by AI)
• Use the library of filters and presets, templated masks, overlays, and frames
• Cloud-based image and project management
• Leverage the user-friendly interface, perfect for beginners and non-designers

Price: Colorcinch is free, but you can go all-in with its premium plan at $4.99/month.

Bring your startup together with Fellow

The best tools for startups can help you do great things when you’re getting started. They also stay useful long past that point. Fellow is a great example. Whether your team is just a few people or a huge group, you can use Fellow to collaborate on meeting agendas and run great meetings. You can also use Fellow to assign meeting action items in real-time and ask for peer feedback afterward. From the moment you start through all the years afterward, Fellow can make the most of your whole team.